Deputies: Phony social worker tried to take child from foster care

Photo: Hernando County Sheriff's office

By Barbara HijekFloriDUH

The day after a child was placed in the foster home, due to a Department of Children and Families investigation, a woman who identified herself as “Lisa Grass" visited the foster home, posing as a social worker, according to a news release from the Hernando County Sheriff's Office.

Grass allegedly said she was there to take the child and reunite the child with a parent.

But the person at the foster home wasn't buying her story and told her they were calling the cops.

Grass fled the area.

Investigators later determined that "Linda Grass" had left voice mail messages on the cell phone of the child in question. Grass also had made contact with the child in the driveway of the fosterhome, trying to convince the child to get in her car, deputies said.

But during one of Grass's visits to the foster home, a witness got a vehicle description and tag number.

After witnesses positively identified Grass to deputies from photos, the 65-year-old woman was arrested and charged Interference with Child Custody.

Detectives also discovered Grass was working with the biological father of the child, who was also busted, according to the release.